Is it impossible to keep motivated during 3 month notice period?

[kerrycgeorgie]

I'm 3 weeks into a 3 month notice period. Moving jobs mainly because the opportunity of the new role is great and the existing role is in a company that has developed a toxic leadership culture in the past 18 months (the MD is seeking investors which makes the function I head up effectively redundant as there can be no new business - risk to the balance sheet).
I fully intended to keep engaged and motivated, mainly because I am committed to my team and line manager, but the combination of new job and current working culture is making that hard.
Any recommendations? Is it worth fighting my lack of motivation or is it inevitable?
Im thinking as long as I do my people management duties well and see out my existing projects that will suffice?

I've two days to go! Its been a struggle but you've just got to keep buggering on

Yeh it’s awful. I just made sure I did the bare minimum, but did spend quite a lot of time on handover meetings because speaking to people kept me motivation and I didn’t want to leave the team in a mess.

I spent quite a lot of time deleting old emails and electronic files and sorting out my desk. I updated all the policies and procedures I was responsible for too.

As time passed, I was less engaged as there were lots of projects and meetings being arranged for after I left, so naturally I was not involved in these.

Yes, I mean, I wouldn't expect you to be 100% productive, but I would expect you to tidy up your trail. Deleting and storing emails, clearing up files, getting rid of old versions, writing handover notes etc is key to a smooth transition.

Try and leave in good grace, you never know who you'll meet or need to talk to in the future and unless it's super toxic, people are just people at the end of the day.

I left my NHS jobs earlier this year as I had relocated and had a 90 mile round commute. It was an absolute killer I have never been so tempted to go off sick in my life. After 25 years though with the same Trust I dragged my carcass through to the bitter end. The feeling of relief driving home after my last shift was immense!! Sorry op not what you wanted to hear 😄

I have just been through this and managed to get mine cut in half. Ordinarily I'd like to say it would have been fine but we were going through a restructure and there were that many problems I had mentally checked out. I said I was not willing to stay that long whilst other people were walking out with pay offs in a matter of days.

Suggest look at what holiday you have etc and see what case you can build to get it reduced.

No, don't apologise, it's good to know the feeling is normal and that I shouldn't take it as a sign that I've become a lazy cow more broadly.
Yes, good tips about getting on top of admin. Handover isn't feasible at the moment as the business is unsure whether to replace like for like or put my team under a colleagues remit.
I've been thinking about what I could do to get gardening leave 😂

Yes, I think I will look again at whether a reduction would actually benefit all parties. My new job is a new function setup within a new project so they're not worried about the 3 months.
I've annual leave booked for 1 week of the leave period

I have no idea why companies are so wedded to a 3 month notice period. Most of the time, they'd be just as well having an empty seat.

My last day of 3 month notice period tomorrow. The first few days/weeks dragged and then it suddenly raced by. TBH it's better just carrying on and treating it like normal and working fairly hard. The time passes faster and you get the respect of your colleagues and clients for doing so.

There’s a whole life and world to live out there - how can you get worked up worrying whether you’re motivated enough to generate money for a business in your leaving period? Flummoxes me

Just do what you have to do to finish off your projects and handovers, otherwise focus on planning for the new job. Anything else is just a waste of energy.

I have two weeks left of a 3 month notice period so totally know how you feel OP!

I was busy for the first couple of months on projects but now they're finished and I've done most handover stuff it's really dragging. Am bored, mentally checked out and starting to feel resentful that they didn't let me go early as it's not like they're getting anything from me now. I'm not being invited to meetings or being asked to do anything either so it's not like I have anything to keep me busy.

I've used up annual leave too but if you have any I'd suggest taking some, maybe take a few days here or there to break the weeks up a bit. Count off the days on a calendar, it will soon start flying by. It helps if you can keep busy to make the time go quicker.